Patanjali's Dant Kanti bites into MNCs but makes Dabur shine

In fiscal year 2017, Dabur's flagship brand 'Dabur Red Paste', with a volume share of 8.5%, has emerged as the No. 3 toothpaste brandECONOMICTIMES.COM | May 17, 2017, 14:00 IST

Picture source: ThinkStockAyurved's Dant Kanti has squeezed the toothpaste market dominated by big players like Colgate-Palmolive (India) and Hindustan Unilever (HUL). But there's one rival that has actually benefited from Patanjali's agressive push: Dabur India. The home-grown company's toothpaste market share has grown by a little over 1% in 2016 while Colgate and HUL are losing market share.

In fiscal year 2017, Dabur's flagship brand 'Dabur Red Paste', with a volume share of 8.5%, has emerged as the No. 3 toothpaste brand in the country by overtaking Cibaca Top (7.5% share). The top two brands of toothpaste are Colgate Dental Cream, with a share of around 29%, and Close-Up, with a share of about 13%.

Dant Kanti has emerged as the fastest growing brand, albeit on a small base, gaining 1.5% share in one year to about 3%. Recently, Patanjali Ayurved announced that its annual turnover had crossed Rs 10,000 crore in the fiscal year 2017. Of this, Rs 940 crore came from Dant Kanti alone.

Dant Kanti's trailblazing entry into the Indian toothpaste market has squeezed the market share of big MNCs.

Colgate's share in the toothpaste market fell the steepest in a decade by 180 basis points in FY17. Colgate’s volume share fell to 55.5% in the year ended March, its lowest since 2012, according to the company's latest investor presentation. In contrast, Dabur's share grew by 140 bps in FY17 while Patanjali’s share increased by 150 bps.

It is evident that Patanjali has not only carved out a niche for itself in the market but also made scope for herbal products of other desi companies. Products with “natural” ingredients now account for nearly a fifth of the overall toothpaste market. Patanjali's creation of a new consumer segment benefits other herbal and ayurvedic brands too.

Sunil Duggal, CEO of Dabur, recently told analysts, "The preference for herbal and ayurvedic toothpaste continues to gain traction, as a result of which our market share in the toothpaste category went up by over 100 basis points (1 percentage point) in 2016-17."

Multinationals too hope to ride the Ramdev wave. Colgate launched its first India-focused ayurvedic brand Cibaca Vedshakti in August last year, aimed squarely at Patanjali’s Dant Kanti toothpaste. It has 0.5% share across India and 1% share in the north and eastern regions, Colgate told analysts.

An Edelweiss Research report on Colgate said the natural segment was there to stay in the market. "Till now, Cibaca Vedshakti had been doing well for the company and logged share gains in certain regions of launch. Cibaca Vedshakti enjoys market share of 0.5-0.6% on national basis, while in the states where the company has launched the product it is upwards of 1% (north and east India). Colgate significantly increased its investment in Cibaca Vedshakti and gained share. The company will be carrying out more innovations and have new launches in this segment," the report said.